Publishing houses urged to launch e-books

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said that
e-books have become a trend, and called on publishing houses to launch
more content in this format, the news website dtinews.vn reported on
January 25.

At a meeting with the staff of Kim Dong
Publishing House, Minister Son said many other sectors have progressed
by applying IT advancements. Online newspapers have come to dominate,
largely replacing print, and this trend is expected in the publishing
sector as well.

He added that this development is inevitable and will have the added benefit of saving publishers the cost of printing.

According to the minister, publishing houses should gradually move to
e-books. He added that Youth Publishing House has already started to
make profits from e-books.

"Kim Dong Publishing House,
as well as other firms should move quickly to switch to e-books,
particularly as the younger generations are addicted to online games. We
need to have more books to attract them,” Minister Son noted.

Despite facing low demand and fierce competition from
illegally-printed books, many publishing houses still ensure the quality
of their books, he said.

The minister also urged publishing
houses to improve production equipment and raise the skills of their
employees in order to meet the changing demands of customers.

He said that the current market is difficult for the publishing
sector, and there will be more difficulties ahead if publishing houses
do not raise quality and cut costs.-VNA